Hong Kong Day 8, Hong Kong Temple

Today was a very nice day. When we got up this morning, we were trying to decide what next to do on our list. We decided we would make the trek up to the New Territories to see the Hong Kong Temple. I had tried to find it on the Church Web site before but without much success. When we had met the Hong Kong Mission President and his wife, we had asked them and he wrote down how to get to the temple. It was a good thing he did. When we got off the Metro and started looking around, it was not immediately apparent which way we should go. I decided to start walking the direction that I thought it would be in and in a few minutes, low and behold, the Angel Moroni.

The temple is in a nice area. Lots of Gated houses and some schools. I thought that the temple was very simple and while it is not the most beautiful temple that I have ever been in, It was still pretty. We were told that it is a 2-40 temple. Meaning 2 endowment rooms that seat 40 each.

After we had gotten our clothes and were dressed, they put us each in a small room to wait. No chapel for everyone to wait in. The Temple President was working the line when you came in, the place you get your name, and later he was at the veil. Not many workers and it looks like they all have to pitch in to make it work.

The neatest part was that there were 3 women and 1 man from Mongolia in our session. They had taken a train for 3 days to get to the temple. There is Patron housing that they can stay in and they are going to stay for about a week. They do not read so they need help to understand. The session was in Cantonese so we wore head sets. I can say that it was truly something that I will remember. We take for granted the opportunity to attend the temple and it was obvious that there were some sacrifices that we just can't comprehend that were made for these people to be here.

When we were done and were leaving, there was an Elder from the Mission office that came out and spoke to us. He was Elder Lau and he and his wife are from Mapleton, Utah. He seemed starved for someone to talk to. He took us up to the Mission office (It is in the temple) and showed us around. Very nice people and they gave us some ideas for where to eat and go see.

After we took the Metro back to our Hotel.

We decided we wanted to go and see the Flower Market, Bird Market and the Ladies Market, then we would find something to eat. With a newer, more detailed map provide by Elder Lau, we headed off on the Metro again. This time, it was very easy and we walked straight to the Flower Market. Too bad we couldn't really buy any. However, it was very nice and the flowers were cheap. At the end of the Flower market, is the Bird Market.

They sell birds, crickets, meal worms, bird cages, and all the things you would need for your bird and some people just bring their birds to an outing in the park. It was interesting to walk thru and see some very different and pretty birds. After this, we headed for the Ladies Market. This was someplace that my girls would love. There are both booths and stores selling clothes mainly for Ladies. When you look at the clothes, many of them still have the labels in them even though they are supposed to cut them out. I saw Eddie Bauer, Old Navy, Laura Ashley and a number of others. You really have to hunt but the prices were very very low. I can picture Sarah and Megan spending an entire day there and then the next morning begging to go back and look some more.

This was not really my thing.

Ok, now it was time for Dinner. We had decided that we were venturing out tonight. We had a couple of places in mind but settled on one that was Shanghiese. When we got there and looked at the menu, everything had Shark fin, Birds Nest or Eel in it. We couldn't even find 1 thing we thought we could eat. So we headed out and started just looking as we went. We finally found a place that looked pretty good. I can say, that everything we had was good. Some had more flavor than the others but overall it was a nice change. The Sweet and Sour Pork with Mango was my favorite. It is a nice change to an American dish. We were going to do Dessert but he told us that the Sweet Papaya soup is served hot, we decided to pass.

We headed back to the Metro and back to our Hotel. One last thing for tonight. I haven't said much about this but there are Millions of these people over here. Each time we go someplace, it is like an army of people moving. I have tried to take some pictures to show this but none of them do it justice. I guess it is just something that you have to experience.